Feb. 8, 2013: WVU football; guns; state schools chief

After Syracuse crushed West Virginia 38-14 in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, the Weirton Daily Times out of West Virginia had the headline "WVU loses bowel."

It may not have been a typographical error, as West Virginia really did stink up the place.

Kenneth L. Zimmerman

Huntington Beach, Calif.

Guns do save lives and prevent crime

Editor:

According to noted criminologist Dr. Gary Kleck of Florida State University, every year about 650,000 Americans employ legally owned firearms to thwart criminal assault. Government figures from the National Survey of Criminal Victimization report 100,000 uses a year of guns in self-defense against crime -- the vast majority of these being the display of weapons to deter or dissuade.

Therefore, regardless of studies one can site or numbers reported, firearms do save lives and, in many instances, crime is prevented and the lives of the perpetrator and the intended victim are spared.

That is a very positive statistic. In fairness, the liberal media should be less biased and show more objectivity in what it reports. Yes, firearms can kill, but that must be qualified first in relation to how they are used. To murder is to kill in the commission of a crime, to kill in self-defense is self-defense. There is a big difference.

To defend is to protect and hopefully save lives, and that is a noble thing. Statistics show the number of people killed by knives, blunt objects, hands and feet are 20 times greater than the number of people killed by rifles.

Please, folks, let us put things in perspective.

Von Albert Ehman

Charleston

Trouble 'seen' for W.Va.'s public schools

Editor:

This was posted on Facebook on Jan. 8: "Was listening to the local report on NPR tonight and a story about our new state superintendent of schools - you know, the one they fired Marple for - who was talking about some anti-truancy program they had used wherever he was before now. He talked about how successful it was. The state superintendent of schools said, 'We seen results.' He really said that. He really, actually said that. The state superintendent of schools said that."

Then, posted on Facebook on Jan. 9, in the morning, was: "Correction: Concerned that I had misheard and, so, misquoted the new West Virginia state superintendent of schools, I was able to hear the radio report again this morning. In fact, the West Virginia state superintendent of schools did not say, 'We seen progress.' However, he did say, 'We seen a difference.' The West Virginia state superintendent of schools said that. Please accept my apologies for my previous error."

And we're up in arms about "Buckwild" because . . . ?

Doug Minnerly

Charleston

Gun control will not protect our children

Editor:

Since 1973, there have been 55 million innocent unborn babies murdered by legalized abortion. Where is the public outcry to make abortions illegal? On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 innocent civilians were murdered at the hands of al-Qaida terrorists who flew jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Where is the public outcry to make airplanes illegal?

In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols murdered 168 innocent people, including 19 children, with a truck bomb. Where is the public outcry to ban trucks or fertilizer? There are more than 30,000 traffic fatalities per year. Where is the public outcry to outlaw automobiles?

There is none.

Yet, when faced with the unthinkable tragedy of precious children murdered by an evil person, we want to blame the gun instead of the villain.

Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. They did not prevent this tragedy. Gun control is not the answer. I think it is amazing that President Obama can look at the American public with a straight face and tell them we need to get rid of guns, considering that his Secret Service agents all carry guns, there are armed agents with his daughters at school, and the country spends $1.68 billion a year to fund the Secret Service.

If gun control will take care of the problem, then I suggest that President Obama arm all his Secret Service agents with staplers or calculators, instead of guns.